Complicated
by Chumic
Summary: Alexis is one day attacked by drunken men and forced into an alley, when almost unconscious she sees four dark silhouettes that saves her in the last minute. But she do notice that those silhouettes did not resemble a human being. She is now determined to find those silhouettes again to be able to thank them, but most importantly: to find out what they really are!
1. Hunting Silhouettes

**Note: **I apoligize in advance for any grammar- or spelling misstakes of any, my brain just stops functioning correctly and can't see simple mistakes sometimes. I hope you can endure it anyway!

Also this is my first time writing in a first-person perspective, I think it's called that.. ._.  
It would be good to know that this story takes place somewhere after the 2003 series.

And please review! C:

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It has been months now since I was attacked in an alley by a group of drunken men on my way home from a dear friend of mine. All I remember is being dragged into an alley, being touched all over my body before I started was able to break free from their strong hold of me. That only resulted in my quick defeat as they knocked me unconscious with something, I believe it to have been a broken pipe or something similar. But before passing out on the ground I could see four silhouettes of something out of this world, next thing I remember I woke up in a hospital bed with my over protective mother by my side, who was sobbing like crazy, thinking that I was going to die. There is no way those silhouettes could have belonged to a human being, I'm totally sure of it! That's why I have decided to hunt those down, not only to thank them but also get to know what they are, who they are! I mean, aliens or not… probably not, it would be so awesome to meet them!

"Mom, I'm off to Olivia's place now." I called as I put on my converse, leather jacket and threw the backpack over my back.

"Don't move a muscle young lady!"

My mother came rushing out into the hallway with a box in a tight grasp, oh how I recognize that box from miles. Especially when I have given my all to hide it from her, but it is pointless in trying.

"You don't step a foot out of this apartment before taking these with you."

"Mom, I don't need all those things! I won't be attacked again!"

"It's out of discussion!"

Before I knew it she turned me around in a very determined matter to get access to my backpack.

"I won't even have time to reach for that stuff if I was to be attacked!" I protested, but mom never seems to listen when it comes to times like this.

Whenever it comes to something regarding my safety, her words is law, laws written in heavy freakin' stone!

"This is a panic alarm, pull this pin and it will sound really loud."

And turned me around once again to show me the device and then put it in my pocket.

"Remember to throw the pin away, then they won't be able to turn it off that quickly."

"Mom."

But my attempt to get her attention failed miserably.

"And this is pepper spray."

"Mom!"

"Use this in their eyes and then kick them between the-"

"For god's sakes mom! I know what all of these things do!" I yelled, being what I would say only slightly irritated this time.

"Give me it, and now I will leave. If you want anything you can call my cellphone."

And by the time I opened the door I turned my eyes to her, remembering one small detail I must inform her of before I go.

"And that does _not _mean that you have the right to call me the second I step out of the door and ask me if I'm okay! Jeez woman, relax!"

My mom can really be a pain in the ass sometimes. Even if I do appreciate her concern of me it sometimes, or just about every time, gets out of hand. Lucky for me my dear friend Olivia always cover for me whenever I want to do stuff outside without my mom knowing about it, so I always use the excuse that I will spend the night at her place. It's only logical since we're such good friends. So I decided to go back to the block where I was attacked, but after looking for about an hour I started to get the thought that they might just have been here by chance just that time. But searching all of New York City would be like asking for a mission that would enquire your entire lifetime! Not really sure what to do I looked around, there weren't much activity on the streets this time of the day. I could somehow relate to that, normal people would want to avoid the dark cold night and return to their warm and safe homes with cozy beds. But I don't consider myself as normal person anyway…

"How about the roof..."

It might actually work pretty good since I'd get a better view over the several blocks at the same time.

"I just need to choose the highest building around here and get to the top of it."

Well, that was easier said than done.

"Stupid locked doors." I muttered for myself. "Who locks door anyway?!"

There was an understatement to say that I wasn't very frustrated, perhaps even mad, that I couldn't make my way up to the top of the one building that might be high enough to make my excellent plan to work. I might not say the smartest things when I'm mad, but who made it so hard to get access to a rooftop? It's not exactly like every person trying to get up there wants to kill themselves. Wondering if I should quite it for the night I pass the alley where I was attacked. It sure made my stomach tying itself by the memories playing in my head, without realizing it I grabbed the pepper spray mom placed in my pocket before as I entered. As I look around, I noticed the fire escape on the side of the building, creating a new idea to make it to the rooftop.

"Why didn't I think of this before?"

It took me about a minute or two to push the garbage container under the ladder so that I could reach it, when grabbing it I found no difficulties getting up on the roof. The City of New York spread out in front of me, millions of sparkling lights and skyscrapers. The wind felt so good on the face, also there was a clear night sky tonight. But I found myself gazing upon the city, which I wasn't here to do, and put myself into business.

"All I have to do is look for silhouettes in the streets, right…"

This might be the worst idea I've had so far, what would make them show themselves down in the streets? But I might as well remain up here for a while till it's time for me to go home again. So I hide in the shadows at the end of the building and keep a close look at the street below me, hoping for something that might never come. It's still better than being home sometimes. As I start to relax and enjoy the empty and quiet surrounding I hear my phone ring, which almost literally made my heart stop.

"Mom, I've already send you a text saying I'm okay." And yes, imagine a very tired, slightly irritated and monotone voice and you would know exactly how much of a fan I am of my mother's calls.

"_I just wanted to hear if you're okay, I've stopped myself many times from calling already but…_"

I stopped listening as she kept on talking, I knew that she is not say anything of importance anyway. So I decided to take a short break and sat down on the concrete and leaned against the railings and let my mother keep on talking to make her feel good.

That's when I saw them.

"Mom, I'm busy right now." I interrupted her.

"_Oh, what are you two doing then?_"

"Don't have time, talk to you later."

"_Alexis, wai-_" But I hung up.

The rush of excitement of seeing the four dark silhouettes flying over the rooftops not far from here almost made me forget my backpack as I rushed down the fire escape to follow them on foot. There is no way that I could make those jumps over the alleys, there is no way any human would do that! So I rushed down the street, looked up towards the rooftops but saw nothing.

"Damn it!" I said out loud when the silhouettes were nowhere in sight, drew my hands through my messy brown hair in pure frustration when I suddenly spotted them again. Without thinking I ran towards them, realizing now that they weren't that much faster than me. For the matter of fact, they were about just as fast!

"Score! Then I might not lose them!"

But I was soon to run out of breath, my legs started to get heavy and it hurts to take too deep breaths. That's was when I saw them leap over the main street from the rooftop on to another, so I started to run over the main street myself without thinking and absolutely not looking on the road either. Soon I came to realized that I stood face to face with a rushing truck. Everything went in slow motion, the sharp lights from the truck honking its horn to make me move. Telling you, my temporary paralyzed feet aren't going anywhere. Is this how I am supposed to die?  
Things suddenly went black, completely pitch black but I could still hear the loud sound from what resembled the truck. The most important part is that I could feel that someone has grabbed the hold of me, a strong arm which held me tightly as we hit the ground. I started to gain my sight back with a funny feeling in my head, probably numbness, when a voice spoke to me.

"Are you okay?"

I rubbed my eyes to make the sight come back faster, as if it would, and looked up to whom the voice belonged to.

"Yeah, thank yo-" But it was then I saw that it was one of those silhouettes I've been chasing all along. I didn't have time to speak no more when he suddenly disappeared out of my sight. Then I spotted him shortly afterwards, moving in the same direction as they did before. Oh no, I won't let you get away!

"Hey wait!" I yelled and took up my hunt after them once again.

After a few minutes they suddenly disappeared into an alley, so I saw what might be my only chance to confront them and ran with all my might to face an empty alley. I looked around and couldn't make any sense of it, where did they go? It was then I noticed the manhole right in the middle of the alley and looked quite suspicious at it.

"No…" I mumbled questioning. "They couldn't..."

But I didn't weigh the possibility for them to escape through the manhole or not, I just took action and searched for something to bend it open with and jumped in after them.

"Oh this is just great…"

Now my shoes are all wet, and also there is this particular smell that I can't decide if it's disgusting or just weird. But I can't waste any time so I started to run in the ankle deep water and was making far more noise than I wished to do. Soon I started to realize that the tunnels down here is like a maze.

"Don't worry, I got my smartphone with GPS." I told myself and kept on going.

After about a hour I gave up, I have now lost the silhouettes I was desperately searching for and grabbed my phone, only to notice that it had no connection to the internet.

"Great, this is just great." And drew my empty hand through my hair once again, yes I do that when I get frustrated.

"I can't call mom, she'd freak out and never let me go out again. If I call Olivia… well... she'll ask a bunch of weird questions too. Besides, she wouldn't be able to find me as well and then we'd both be stuck down here since we both got such a terrible sense of direction…"

I had a hard time deciding to call my mom or not, but decided not to since it would only worry her. I'd give it one more go before asking her to find me. So I started walking, looked around and tried not to step in anything I'd regret later.

"Hello?"

Nobody answered me, as if I someone would down here, stupid me. They would certainly not answer me, and besides, they are probably gone by now.

"Keep calm, don't call mom. Keep calm and do not whatever you freakin' do call mom…"

I couldn't keep myself from chuckle a bit, it rimes! I kept moving forward, now for an exit more than the silhouettes since it was a hopeless case by now. But at least I have been able to see them once more and proven to myself that it wasn't me just making things up. After walking of what felt like an eternity I noticed that the water in the tunnel was gone. Also I saw a light further down in the tunnel, so I started to pick up the pace to then sneak the last few meters to the opening. I could not believe my eyes!

"Mikey, I warn you! If you so much as drop that water balloon I'll make you a knuckle sandwich!"

It said with a deep, slightly rough voice with a heavy Brooklyn accent.

"Ooooh, that's so scary I might actually throw it!"

"Don't you dare thro-"

But he did, and a deep growl behind the other one's gritted teeth came forward before he started chasing the one throwing the water balloon. They were turtles! I just stood there with my mouth open, resembling a goldfish, peeking in from what would be called as a door. It was just a dried pipeline leading into the big open area, but anyway. Then the orange masked turtle screamed in fear of the red one chasing him, sounding kinda funny that I couldn't help myself but to smile despite the fact they were giant turtles, or aliens, or something for that matter. So I grabbed my phone to take a picture.

"Olivia is so going to freak out when she sees this…" I said for myself in a low voice as I was about to take a photo when something appeared behind me. I didn't dare to look at first, but then I turned around slowly to notice that there was one behind me as well. This one had a blue mask and a katana facing my throat, not thinking twice about slicing my head clean off, I'd assume by the look on its face.  
This is the second time today I felt like my life is going to end, whaa.. I don't even.. I have no words… period.

"Please, I mean you no harm."

"What are you doing here?"

The voice was so cold and harsh that it made goose bumps appear all over my body, I swallowed hard and tried to keep my cool.

"I was looking for you…"

But this didn't seem to make him react in any way that he'd lower his weapon.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my life, pulling me out of the way from that speeding truck."

I don't know why, but those words seemed to make this creature lower his weapon a bit.

"Why did you go through all that trouble to get here just to say thanks?"

"Because I have seen you once before, for a few months ago. I've searched for you ever since. I wanted to thank you but mostly of all get to see what you really are!"

And for some reason, he pushed me inside into the light making me visible for everyone else. Now there was no turning back. Mom, if I am to die here and now I am sorry that I might not be able to use those anti-abuse gadgets you'd given me. I have a feeling this blue fellow might cut my hands off before I get the chance to…

"Leo, what are you doin'?!" Asked the red masked turtle, the one with the heavy Brooklyn accent, and approached us with fast steps.

"You can't bring a human here, what are ya' thinkin'?!"

"I didn't."

And he sounded pretty angry if you asked me.

"If you were the least observant at your surroundings you'd notice that this girl was sneaking around just outside of the lair!"

I couldn't help to feel that shit was about to go down, and yes, that would be because of me…

"If you were just to relax once in a while, ooh fearless leader, the girl might just have left! How is she supposed to prove we exist anyway?!"

"Um…" I said with a low voice, not sure if this was the right moment to speak up or not.

"If this is all about the picture, I'll delete it…"

Now the orange masked turtle had approached us as well, and if I am not mistaken there was a purple masked one further away in what seemed to be another room. What's with these colors anyway?

"See? She took a picture of you Raph, what if she will show it to the authorities? Then what would you do?!"

The conversation escalated pretty quickly with me standing just about in the middle of the red and blue masked turtle. I had a bad feeling about it but didn't dare to move, since both of them were equipped with ninja weapons I'd assumed that they were ninjas, even how strange it would sound with turtle ninjas in the sewers of New York… I looked at the orange masked turtle, who meet my glance. It was impossible to miss my very tense facial expression, desperately reaching out for him to help me out of this pinch. He seemed to get the hint as he took a few steps closer and pulled me away, which the other two didn't seemed to notice.

"I swear to god I'll do anything you want, just don't kill me."

I must admit, the funny part about this is that I don't even sound scared at all. More like an unmotivated student holding a presentation for the entire class, reading entirely from a paper with a calm and monotone tone to the voice. Perhaps I was too scared to sound scared.. how that now makes sense..

"Kill you? What?! Noo, I won't do that!"

The relief was obvious as I seemed to relax various muscles I didn't notice I was holding.

"That's good to hear!" I assured him.

"Raph and Leo are always like this, it is just best to ignore it till they get tired and leave each other alone."

Somehow I didn't feel too good hearing that.

"Oh! Sometimes we have to go in and separate them, but you don't want that since those two are the strongest of us four. It works as long as Donnie's with me!"

I don't know why, but this turtle seemed to be very friendly unlike his blue masked friend. And I didn't know for sure why he was talking to me anyway, but he didn't seem dangerous to me.

"But I am definitely the coolest and the funniest one!"

"Do you have a name?"

"I'm Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey."

"Mikey, how come that you are a giant talking turtle with…" I leaned down a bit to take a closer look to what seemed to be a ninja weapon as well, how the hell is he supposed to kill people with those?

".. ninja weapons?" I ended, feeling very curious about the answer he'll give me.

"How come you are a human girl who doesn't freak out from seeing four giant turtles?"

"'Cuz I'm awesome?"

I pray to god, some imaginary figure up above the clouds that I've read this fellow correctly. If I have he will, most likely, accept me. Otherwise.. will someone please save my sorry ass?

"I like you already, you're much more fun than April!"

Now this April person might be a giant bird then? Since they're turtles, birds and turtles might get along..

"I like you too Mikey, you seem cool."

The funny thing here is that it is like talking to my friends, the only difference is that it is a giant turtle, taller than me with an orange mask and ninja weapons. I know I should be afraid like anyone else would be, but like I said before I don't consider myself as a normal person anyway.. so misfit reactions is my daily basis.

"Oh, now that I think about it! How did you find us?"

"How?" At first I was wondering about it myself, to tell the truth I just got lost and found them by pure luck. But I came to think about a cooler explanation how I came to find them, chuckled for myself and looked into his eyes as a fitting smirk was placed on my lips to my confident voice.

"Because I'm like a ninja myself!"


	2. From this point forward

**Thank you for the reviews, it's fun to hear that you like it!**

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**Chapter 2: **From this point forward

"So…" I started, looked at the two turtles fighting in front of me with one on them by my side. They reminded me of my older brother and I, who don't live with me and mom anymore but on his own with occasional girlfriends from time to time. We used to fight a lot when he lived together with me and mom, we fought a lot like they do now, and still do whenever I see him. The only bad part about this story, according to me at least, would be that I am always the one being defeated. A game or not, that sucks I tell you.

".. are they like this all the time?"

"More or less, my brothers has been fighting more than they usually do lately."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass..."

"Yeah, tell me about it!"

I wasn't really sure what to do next, but standing here watching two turtles fight wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I got here. If I wanted a fight I would have gone and visit my stupid brother.

"I feel for you bro, I got one myself.. He won't get off my back even if I wanted to."

"Yeah.. But Raph is really funny to tease when he has been in a fight with Leo. But if you decide to mess with him then you'd better be prepared to run!"

And I started to see myself more and more in him, that's just as I am towards my brother. Me and my brother's relationship is based on pranks and teasing, which makes it all fun.

"Sounds like fun." And I couldn't help but giggle to the memories of my own brother. Suddenly I got such a urge to see him again.

"Just like me and my brother." I said with a smile on my lips, and then it suddenly disappeared.

"The only problem is that I always loose…"

"That's because you're doing it all wrong! You need to have a special technique."

He suddenly said which made me to meet his eyes.

"And you're doing it right, I assume by those words of yours?"

"Duuh, I'm the one inventing the special technique!"

"I'm just sayin' that I have trouble believing in you." And I couldn't help myself but to let at smirk appear on my lips. The two other brothers stopped fighting, which perhaps was about time and went separate ways.

"Now check this out." Mikey said and I just looked after him, walking towards Raph when I saw a couple of televisions in the corner of my eye. Instead of looking at Mikey making his way towards Raph I dropped my chin of what I say by the collection of televisions.

"No way!" I said out loud, making my way over there.

"You guys have xbox 360, wii and playstation 3?!"

I said out loud as I crouched down in front of the different consoles, being utterly amazed and looked over to Mikey who had changed direction from his brother back to me.

"We found them in the city dump, so Don fixed them up so they'd work again. It's harder to find any games to play, but I usually download a few.." He tried to look as innocent as he possibly could, but I couldn't blame him with the killing prices on every single game on the market!

"Hey, what abou-" But my heart jumped up in my throat when my phone began to ring for the second time today and saw that it was my mother calling.

"Mom, I have told you before that I am-"

But now it was her time to interrupt me.

_"Alexis Mayer, if you're not home within 15 minutes I'll chain you down to your desk and you'll be grounded for weeks!" _

She almost screamed in my ear with a very angry tone, making me holding the phone on a distance and I would still be able to hear her loud and clear. It made Mikey make a face as well, wondering if hell had broken loose or something. But I took her threat seriously.

"Take it easy mom, why are you so mad?"

_"Why? You should have been home hours ago! Where are you? I couldn't get a hold of your phone since you wasn't reachable till now!" _

You could clearly see the surprise her words left me, now I was desperately searching for an excuse, one that sounded real instead of saying 'yeah, I'm down in the sewers with four giant talking turtles with badass ninja weapons.', that would defiantly get me grounded for weeks.

"Oh I totally forgot about the time mom! I'll go pack my things right away and if I'm lucky I might catch the next bus."

And she started talking about how her trust in me was going to disappear if I can't keep the track of time, how young girls like me can be caught up in many bad things on the streets. As always, I stopped listening.

"Mom, I won't make it to the bus if you don't stop talking!"

And with those reasonable words of mine she hung up so that I could get my ass on that bus, as she expressed it before ending our call. I may be a woman but multitasking, the only thing women are known to be good at, I suck at. Soon I won't be able to call myself a woman anymore, but I won't ever be as manly as a man… so perhaps.. I'll be a cat,

"Sorry Mikey, gotta go!"

I took my backpack which I'd put on the couch before and hurried to the exit where I came from.

"Oh, I'll stop by tomorrow after school with a surprise!"

Before he got the chance to answer me I started running, making notes of every turn I took till I founded a ladder which led to a manhole. Now I would be able to find my way back tomorrow. Mom wasn't that happy with me when I got home, for the matter of fact she was pissed off. I only got to escape the argument because of the time and that I had to go up to school in the morning. Sometimes you just gotta love school.

Next day went by really slow, all I could think about was my new discovery in the sewers. I spaced out during the lessons, looking out of the window. I was scolded by every teacher to pay more attention or my grades would go down even further than they already have. Even then I couldn't stop thinking about it, even though the conversation about my grades did pound in some sense into me. During the last lesson of the day I was just lying over my desk, staring on the clock and saw almost every second of an hour pass by. Almost as interesting as watching the grass grow in the park.

"Now class this period ends, see you tomorrow."

As my teacher said those words I just grabbed my bag and rushed out of the classroom, down to my locker to grab my leather jacket and was ready to go. I put my headphones on and jumped on a bus that would take me to the manhole that I got up from yesterday. Let me tell you one thing, the caps over the manhole are freaking heavy! So I made my way to the alley, looked around twice to make sure no one saw me before bending it open and disappeared into the sewers. As I made my way to their home I started singing slightly to the music since there was a good way to go before I'll be there, but then I could suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder.

I screamed really loud, like the little girl I am.

As I turned around I saw to my relief Don standing in front of me. I was breathing heavier than normal and held a hand over the left side of my chest.

"Oh my god Don! Don't scare me like that!" And removed my headphones and placed them around my neck.

"Sorry Alexis, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." I said taking a deep calming breath, still feeling my heart beat fast and hard. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I'm reinstalling and improving the surveillance sensors around the lair, in case of anymore… surprise visits."

I could feel that his words were aimed at me and only me, based on my visit yesterday.

"That sounds very high-tech. You're god at stuff like this?" I said with an impressed tone to my voice.

"Well, I know a lot." And he paused for a second. "I mean, I know a lot but there is so much to discover, create, develop and learn!"

"I see." I said with a smile, clearly hearing that this was his passion in life judging on the way he spoke about it. Now that he was here, it reminded me of something.

"Hey Don." And picked up my phone where I had my notes.

"If I am right your home should be if I turn right, right, left, right, forward, left, left, right, left, or am I wrong?" He had to think if I was correct or not, mostly because it was hard to follow with so many rights and lefts within one sentence.

"That should be correct, if you just hold on a few minutes I'll give you a ride in our hover-shell back to the lair. These are the last ones to install."

I raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Hover-shell?"

"Yes, it is a vehicle that floats by means of compressed air from a couple of small but powerful compressors that's unfortunately runs on a car battery. After some adjustments it should be driven on self-generated electricity, the question is just to find parts to.." He trailed off as he must have noticed the look on my face that practically said that I didn't follow a thing that he was saying. So he cleared his throat and looked at me once again to rephrase.

"It's basically a hovercraft that I've rebuild with some modifications to fit in the environment down here."

"Aaaah! I get it, but why the name?"

"Oh, that's Mikey's job for most of the time, or he just comes up to me and names anything 'cool' that I build and uses it whenever it's done. But I like to name my inventions."

"Hmm.. that makes sense I guess."

We continued talking and I helped him as much as I could and before I knew it we were on our way back to the lair. When finally there the others three were training.

"Back already?" Leo asked as he defended himself using his katanas from Raph and his sais.

"Yeah, I met Alexis on the way here and she helped me put the last sensors up."

"Hey Alexis!" Mikey shouted and didn't pay attention to either Raph or Leo, which he paid a price for. Leo hit his hotheaded brother, making him stumble backward and by accident collided with Mikey. Both of them ended up on the floor, Raph complaining about Mikey not moving out of the way.

"Don't take your eyes off your opponent Mikey." Leo warned him.

"Aren't you supposed to train as well?" I asked Don and looked up at him.

"Well, I should implement the different transmitters from the sensors into my surveillance system and make sure it is up and running soon."

"… You made a system for that? All on your own?"

"Yes, it wasn't that hard but it took me some time."

"Remind me of never trying to shine in anything that has to do with technology."

That just made him laugh, but I was serious! He's so smart that there is no point in me trying to brag about my technical skills when he's around. So he excused himself and walked over to his room, at least I assumed that it was his room, to implement those transmitters, what that now means. So I looked over at the three brothers that still trained, Raph getting angry on Mikey for provoking him, Mikey who avoided his punches with ease and laughed at his brother, just making things worse.

"Hey Mikey!" I called as I opened my backpack and got his attention, but he was tackled down by Raph and landed flat on his shell on the ground.

"Look what I got!" And I held up Halo 4 so that he could see it clearly. Let me just tell you that his face was priceless.

"Gentlemen, now there has come down to a very important matter that I got to attend to." He said with a silly but very sophisticated made up voice which made my face crank up in a smile.

"What are you waiting for?!" He asked me and grabbed my wrist, dragged me over to the couch and made me sit down.

"I've been dying to play this game!" He said with excitement in his voice and jumped down beside me with the controller in a firm grip.

"Let's start with co-op and go through the storyline, then we'll play one-on-one!" I suggested which he followed. We started playing and we both drooled rainbows over the graphics and level design, the new weapons and badass enemies. Even though I have played this game several times before it still amazes me!

"Respawn you stupid piece of…" I said about an hour into the game, enemies everywhere and Mikey was frantically pressing the buttons beside me to fight off some of them to make me come back to the game again.

"Mikey! You're losing!"

"No way!" He said determine and was like glued to the screen, completely focused on the game.

"If Mikey were this concentrated when training he wouldn't get his shell kicked all the time."

Judging on the accent on the voice, the heavy Brooklyn accent, I knew that it was Raph standing behind us, leaning against the back of the couch.

"But you concentrate on your training?"

"Yeah, so I can kick some punks ass up topside without breakin' a sweat."

"But how come then that Mikey beats you from time to time?"

He didn't say anything, but I could hear him growl behind gritted teeth.

"Easy Raph." Leo said with a calm voice and I could hear Raph relaxing for a bit.

"So this is what you skipped training to do?" Leo asked Mikey the moment when he died.

"Mikey! Now we have to do the whole thing over again!" I complained to him.

"I'm sorry! There were just too many enemies everywhere!"

We were now forced to start over from last checkpoint, which was a way back in the game. But then I came up with an idea and turned back to face Leo and Raph.

"You two wanna join? We can play against each other instead, it isn't that hard to play!"

Leo looked like he was seriously considering playing with us, Raph on the other hand places his arms over his chest and snorted to my suggestion.

"Who'd want to play a boring game like that?"

"Oooh, sounds to me like someone is afraid to lose." I said with a smirk and sounded perhaps to teasing for my own good right now, but Mikey wasn't late to support my words.

"Raphie-boy is afraid to lose to a girl." Mikey teased in his usual matter. "And I know you will bro, so don't even try."

That was when we had pushed his limit over the safe-zone.

"Oh you two just wait!" He said reaching for our necks. I seemed to have an reflex I didn't know of but both Mikey and I threw ourselves forward to avoid Raph's hands and threw the controllers in the sofa as we made our escape from him. As I expected he was chasing after us, making us both laugh. Mikey might be laughing because he was used to Raph chasing him, but I felt some kind of panic inside which made me run faster. I could keep up with Mikey but Raphael wasn't slow either.

"Everyone for themselves!" Mikey shouted and directly caught my attention.

"Traitor!" I shouted back and put a leg in front of his, he fell immediately. What I didn't expect was the he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back so that I fell too, the second later Raph was over us and was reminding both of us by the method of pain that we were still alive, definitely. But by the end of it I was still laughing, perhaps because I did all I could in my attempt to defeat Raphael. I should have known better. But he might as well feel a little bit better after getting back at me and Mikey, who surely will have to work on our teamwork. So we laid on the floor in the lair, Raph has already returned to his sandbag to burn some energy. I on the other hand didn't want to move.

"Tell me." I said after a few minutes of silence from both parts.

"Are Raph always this tough on you?"

"Tough?" He asked surprised. "This is not even close, I think he held back on you at least."

I don't wanna be that person to be able to say that I know how strong he could be by own experience, I think he might break a rib or two if he do demonstrate his power.

"Well, that's good to hear…"

And it was very clear in my voice that I was being ironic, this wasn't good at all but at the same time I couldn't help it but smiling. I had it coming.

"We need a better plan next time Mikey."

"Leave that to me."

I turned my head and looked at him, it was impossible to not notice the wide smirk on his face. So I raised my hand to grab his, he did the same and held it in a steady grip.

"Then it's a promise!"

I could feel that from this point forward that we'd be great friends.


	3. Shocking discovery

It has been a month since I met four giant mutated ninja turtles deep down in the sewers, and I must tell you it has been one of the funniest and strangest ones in my entire life! I've gained four new friends that I'll cherish for life.

"Mom I'm home!" I called as soon as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. I stepped off my shoes, threw my jacket on the hallway floor and started rushing through the apartment heading to my room. Just as I passed the kitchen my mom walked out with a cup of coffee in her hands, looked surprised at me as I passed her and then looked back in the hallway.

"Alexis!" She called after me. "The floor is _not _a coat hanger in is apartment!"

"Sorry mom!" I called back as I slammed the door shut behind me, and I could hear her loud sigh as she walked over to the hallway to pick it up. Once in my room I threw my backpack on the bed, directly went for my laptop on my desk and flipped the lid open, opened my browser and found my friend Google that greeted me as always.

"Now let's see…" I said to myself as I typed in 'New York sewer tunnel system map' in the search bar. It immediately gave my millions of hits, but it only took me a minute or two to find what I wanted – a map over abandoned of not functioning tunnels.

"Let's print this one out." And grabbed a red pen as my printer spit out the paper with the map on it. It was slightly transparent map that underneath showed the tunnels, making it very easy to use.

"I'm here…" And drew a circle around my apartment building.

"And I want to go here…"

And circled the guys home, which seemed to be under an abandoned industry area. I noticed that there was a manhole nearby, which made me wonder I haven't thought of this before until now. So I marked the manhole which I was to use with an x, also I drew a route that would be the fastest one to take.

"The bus would take me about an hour with all the traffic…" So I leaned back, thinking of what I could use instead when I saw my longboard in the corner of my eye. That made me smile and I rose from my seat.

"Mom, I'll go over to a friend's place!" And put on my converse, skin jacket, a scarf and a black oversize cap that I'd had for years now.

"Is it someone I know?"

"No, perhaps some other time mom you'll be able to meet them!"

And grabbed my longboard which I had placed on the floor, as I was about to open the door and walk out my mom walked into the hallway, seeing my longboard.

"Wait Alexis, you're not planning to ride that in the middle of New York?"

I just smiled to her, trying to look as innocent as possible. I know she hates that.

"Sorry mom!"

And closed the door behind me and started to run down the stairwell to the bottom floor. Outside the autumn was in full bloom, every tree was either in a yellow or red color and the leaves whirled all over the pavement whenever a wind flew by. I took my headphones and placed them over my cap, connected it to my phone and put on some music to keep me company along the way. Ready to go I threw my longboard on the ground, held the map in my hand and started to roll my way down to the abandoned industrial area. It was nice to feel the wind to the face, also seeing all the nice colors from the warm sun shining its last hours before going down. It only took me about a solid 20 minutes to get to the industrial area. I had to search for the manhole, even when I had a map, and dived in under it when I finally found it. To my surprise I found that the tunnels this time were empty from water and free from any obstacles which made me threw my longboard on the ground again, still listening to music while taking off again. I went down the tunnels, took each correct turn after another. Then there was a two way option, either way was going to work. Since there has been no problem riding a longboard down here I paid less attention to the tunnels and more to the map, trying to figure out which way would be best to take. So I took a turn with only a quick glance on when to turn, the only thing is that when I looked forward again I saw a gathering of four turtles in the middle of the tunnel.

"Watch out!" I yelled in hopes for them to react quicker than I, but they didn't. About a second later I crashed straight into Raphael, making us both fall to the ground.

"Alexis?" Leo asked a bit surprised as he and Don gave us a helping hand up.

"Sorry Leo, I didn't look where I was going…" I said, looked up at Donnie and grabbed his helping hand and soon I was back on my feet again.

"I'm sorry Raph, did I hurt you?"

"Me? Naah, ya' need more than just a collision to keep me down on the ground!"

"Raph's in real pain, he just don' wanna admit it!" Mikey said with a teasing voice and cracked a smirk when looking at his older brother, who growled as his usual reaction would be.

"You just wait Mikey and I'll show ya' real pain!"

"Oooh, I'm so scared!"

"Stop it guys. We have more important things to handle right now." Leo said in a serious matter which made them both stop, which surprised me. Those usually don't stop that fast when being told to.

"What's up then? Ooh, can I join you with whatever you are going to do?"

"Remember those surveillance sensors? Several off them went off just minutes ago, so now we are about to look it up what might have caused this."

"And also no." Leo answered to my second question. "It's too dangerous, we don't know what might be waiting for us down the tunnels." He said it with a calm tone, and as the leader of this group I guess that I have to do what he says, even though it would be sooo cool if they found an alien or something!

"Is it okay if I wait for you guys at your place then?"

"Yeah, but don't leave till at least one of us comes back to lead you home."

I nodded.

"Okay, but be careful!"

"C'mon, you know that we're always careful!" Mikey answered in a cheerful tone.

"You too, be caution of your surroundings." Leo said as I stepped on my longboard.

"Oh please, it's just around the corner." I said with a smile and took off, they seemed to follow my lead and got moving themselves. It only took me about a minute or two to get to their home, lair, house, call it whatever. But it was dark, if not very dim. I stopped at the opening and looked around, feeling like my heart started to race in the dark silence of their home.

"C'mon.. " I said to myself and took a small step forward. "It's just dark…that all…" I looked after my phone in my pocket and turned the flashlight on, everything got such a spooky feeling whenever there was no light or noises from.. well anything! I hate the dark, when you can't see a thing. I really really hate it.

"Oh thank god.." I said to myself, relieved, and turned the lights on. Right away I could feel my body relax its tense muscles. I looked around, feeling that it was so big and lonely without the guys here. I couldn't be selfish this time, not for any time at all for that matter and decided that I might get some homework done if they were about to be gone anyway. So I walked into the kitchen instead and sat down at their table, placed everything I needed to do my math and started to calculate. Then I realized about a half hour later that every calculation I've made so far has been incorrect, I be damned…

"Where's Don when you need him?"

So what was I supposed to do now? I had no homework to be done since I can't do it without the help of Donnie, no one to tease since Raph wasn't here. Video games wouldn't be the same without Mikey and training wouldn't go that well without Leo telling me to concentrate. And yes, they agreed to train me in the art of self-defense. I was so happy when they told me they agreed to train me, but I thought I signed up for some cool ninja stuff, instead Leo had been making me meditate for the past two weeks now. Perhaps I should make him proud of me and try to meditate while they're gone.. but I couldn't decide. In the end I decided to be nice and prepared some food for them to eat when they got back.  
But I wasn't really prepared for what situation that was about to play out when they came back.  
I just finished up the food, some simple pasta with sauce and was doing the dishes when a voice called for me.

"Alexis!" Don called as they stepped inside the lair again, and I noticed that there was this shaky feeling to his voice. So I grabbed a small towel to dry my hands and started to make my leave from the kitchen.

"Yes Don, what is…" But I trailed off as I could see he and Mikey carrying Leo and Raph on each shoulder, making my eyes widen as I dropped the towel on the ground. Both of them had several gashes all over their body and for a moment I stood there in shock before snapping out of it.

"What the hell happened?!" I asked as I rushed over there to help Mikey hold up Raph.

"You wouldn't believe it.." Mikey said with a low and quiet voice, which made me seriously worried. Close to nothing could remove that jolly and happy smile from Mikey's face and now when I looked to meet the orange masked turtle eyes, they were filled with sadness and fear.

"We found our sensei." He told me.

We all helped each other out to get Raph and Leo to the infirmary, Don had set one up for situations like this and thank god for that. We put them on the beds in there and Don started to help Leo right away. Leo was the one that had the most serious wounds, Mikey helped him out while I concentrated on Raph. I was told to clean his wounds and then wrap them in bandage, which was exactly what I did. Half way through, when I was treating a smaller wound to his forehead his hand suddenly grabbed my wrist in a matter of a second. It startled me and I jumped by surprise, but he didn't do anything else but to try sitting up straight.

"My head.." He said in a low voice, letting go of my hand and held his head between his hands.

"You, lay down." I commanded him, put my hand on his shoulder and gently but firmly pushed him down. He didn't do anything to refuse me, which I was thankful for.

"Where's my brothers?" He asked, frowned by the pain of his wounds when he tried to move.

"They're all here, Don and Mikey is helping Leo." Then I smiled gently to him, mostly to make him relax and calm down.

"He's gonna be alright, don't worry. He's in Donnie's care so there's nothing to worry about."

I didn't know if I was lying straight up to his face or not, but I sure hoped that Don knows what he's doing. Raph drifted out in unconsciousness again, making it easier for me to work when his hands were out of the way. I treated the remaining wounds on his body and then took a look over my shoulder on the others. Don was still working on Leo, giving him stitches on one deep gash on the front of his left shoulder. So I looked over at Mikey, who 'only' had small cuts and a lot of bruises. I walked over to him, put a calming hand on his shoulder and smiled to him.

"Let me take a look at those for you." I led him over to a chair and made him sit down, grabbed a chair and some medical equipment and started to clean a cut on his cheek. He made a grimace as the antiseptic I applied stung like crazy, but I had to continue in order for it to not be infected.

"Didn't I tell you all to be careful?" I asked him in a gentle and kind tone, trying to cheer him up as I searched for a larger plaster to cover the cut with.

"Sorry.." Was all he said to me, which made me sit still for a moment and treated his abrasions with some disinfectant.

"What was that about 'finding your sensei'?" I asked, realized that my question might hit a weak point. It did since Mikey didn't want to answer my question, being in too much of a shock I assumed. I won't pressure him to answer me either, it will come in time. Besides, Leo usually answers all of my questions, Don as well, once they have time or are awake for that matter.

"Why don't you go and lie down for a while Mikey? Meanwhile I'll help Don if he needs me." He nodded to my words, rose from the chair and walked away to the door.

"Do you want company to your room?"

"No, thanks anyway.." And then he left.

It gave me a bad feeling, a really bad feeling to see Mikey this down. But I couldn't expect anything less when his brothers are hurt this badly. So I turned to Donnie who seemed to been done with Leo, except for some minor cuts which he started treating. I grabbed his wrist softly, more or less forcing him turn his eyes on me with that simple gesture and looked at him with a determined but gentle pair of eyes.

"Go and sit down Donnie, you know you need to rest as well."

He looked at me, doubting if he should leave his brother to me, I could see it in his eyes that he was about to refuse to lie down and rest to care of his brothers instead. But what help would he be if he himself became worse?

"It wasn't a suggestion." I said, clarifying the intent of my words. "Besides, it just small cuts and bruises left to treat. Anyone, even without medical expertise like me, can treat it. So please lie down and rest." He really didn't want to, I could see it in his eyes. But he seemed to hear my pleading for him to rest as well. I cared for him too, I care for all of them. So he sighed and let go of the equipment in his hands, rubbing the back of his neck and stretched his back.

"Okay, I'll go and check on Mikey first before resting…"

Well, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind but I guess that's better for him to do so instead of stressing himself up even more over Leo and Raph. I turned my attention to Leo, his entire shoulder was wrapped in bandage, as well as several other parts of his body. It was a terrible sight, but the important thing is that they both survive this. So I started treating the rest of his wounds, then checked on Raph once more before searching for Don. Mikey and Donnie suffered from more severe bruises while Raph and Leo got more wounds and cuts. It is terrifying for all of us, especially them, but in bad times it's even more important to stay strong. It didn't take me long before I found them both in the living room by the sofas.

"Don, let me take a look at your wounds too."

I sat down by his side, disinfected those cuts he gotten on his green skin and wrapped them in bandage. I thought about it time after time, I just have to know the answer to this question.

"Don, who did this to you?"

This time as well I seemed to hit a weak point, they both remained silent for a while.

"I'm sorry, if you don't want to answer me that's fine."

"No, it's okay." Don then answered me and took a calming breath.

"It's been almost a year now since our sensei just disappeared one day. We've searched for him ever since, not finding a single lead to go on. We all started to think that he was dead. But today when exploring who, or rather what, set off the security alarms we put up for a few weeks ago seems to be our sensei. We're not completely sure yet, but the thing that attacked us resembled our sensei to the point that we couldn't fight it all out…" He stopped to gather himself up, but I put a hand on his shoulder and smiled to him when he met my eyes.

"You don't need to say anything more, I understand. I just have one more question.." And I made a small pause.

"Did your sensei disappear on… the 28th of November last year?" I asked, struggling a bit on my own.

"Yeah.." Donatello answered a bit unsure. "How did you know?"

My mind was immediately haunted by memories, good as bad, which made me wanna cry right on the spot. But I wouldn't, and right now I couldn't. I could only imagine how the guys must feel right now. And therefore I had no right to turn the table and being the one taken care of when they need me right now. So I took a deep breath to collect my thoughts.

"Because my dad suddenly disappeared on that exact day too."


End file.
